<p>Google Inc. (GOOG) lost its bid for afederal appeals court review of a ruling that permitted alawsuit to go forward over claims the company violated wiretaplaws by scanning the contents of private e-mail messages.</p><p>U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh in San Jose, California,denied Google's request for the appeal hearing in an orderyesterday. While allowing federal claims in the lawsuit toproceed in a Sept. 26 ruling, Koh has yet to rule whether theplaintiffs can represent all Gmail users, as well as peoplewhose messages were received by a Gmail user.</p><p>Lawsuits against Internet companies and social networks aremultiplying as users become more aware of how much personalinformation they're revealing, often without their knowledge. InSan Jose, Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) and LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) also face accusationsthey've intercepted communications for their profit at theexpense of users or non-users.</p><p>In her ruling yesterday, Koh wrote the case is acombination of various suits from different U.S. states withrelated claims, the oldest of which was filed more than threeyears ago. Koh said the plaintiffs and Google have fully arguedin court filings whether the case should proceed as a grouplawsuit, and that she will rule on that request "shortly" witha target trial date in October. Tortuous History</p><p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-28/google-loses-bid-for-appeals-review-of-gmail-wiretap-suit.html">Keep reading...</a></p>